Friday, July 29, 2011
30 Day Challenge - Week 2
Before I start this week's blog I need to choose my favorite relaxation and enrichment activities from last week. It was a hard choice, because I enjoyed them all. For relaxation, it came down to yoga or a hot bath with bath oil. As much as I love to do yoga on a regular basis, the bath was a truly special treat, so the bath won. For enrichment, it came down to sewing or making bread. I enjoy making bread, but I don't sew very often, so I feel extra accomplished when I manage to sew something that stays together and looks presentable! So sewing won. Week one winners: hot bath with bath oil & sewing!
Day Six:
Relaxation - Time with Bryan
Enrichment - Crafts
I am not going to go into detail about it, but having a loving relationship with my spouse is crucial to my happiness, as well as his. We enjoyed spending some quiet time together. The crafts were fun, but simple. I bought wooden picture holders, painted them, and added magnets to them to put on the fridge. No, my kids' pictures are not in them yet, that will happen soon!
Day Seven:
Relaxation - Prayer
Enrichment - Reading Scriptures
I pray every day, and our family prays every day as well. We do not read scriptures every day, but we have become so much better at reading them on a more regular basis. We read Alma 7, and the verses inspired me as never before. Not only was I thinking of the blessings for me, I was thinking of the blessings Grace will receive when she is baptised, and the honor she will have to take the name of Christ upon her. A new understanding of those verses brought joy to my heart, and I had a hard time reading it out loud without choking up with emotion.
Prayer is always a wonderful spiritual cleanser, and although I did not need prayer on this day more than other days, it felt nice to bow my head and give thanks and ask for inspiration and direction. :-)
Day Eight:
Relaxation - Massage
Enrichment - Painting
I was worried that the relaxation for this day would not happen, as we are being conservative with money and I did not want to pay for a massage (okay okay, I WANTED to, but I decided it was wise not to). However, Grace (loving daughter that she is) changed that for me and gave me an amazing ashiatsu massage. She has a natural talent!! Bryan made it even better by rubbing my back and shoulders later, so I got a double massage...... it was FANTASTIC! The painting was fun, but I kept it simple again. I got Grace and Andrew's advice for a small painting in the toy room. We agreed on an abstract flower painting, as long as there were not girl colors (a compromise for Andrew). Then I repainted a white wooden play crib in a basecoat of purple. I am going to make it into a special gift for a certain special niece's first birthday. ;-)
Day Nine:
Relaxation - Stretching
Enrichment - Cleaning car
So I cheated a little on this one and added a chore that I needed to do as an enrichment activity. I even cheated a little more and ran the car through the carwash instead of washing it by hand. In my defense, we had to do the grocery shopping that day, and shopping for 2 weeks worth of food takes a while.... especially with two wild kids. I did, however, clean out and vacuum the inside of the car, and it looked much nicer afterwards. The stretching was wonderful, but I stretch every day. I just stretched a little longer this time, and Bryan stretched with me. We needed it after a fairly lazy vacation! No pics needed, our car is used for carting kids around town, and I am NOT blasting an image of the inside of our well-worn car all over the blogosphere! :-)
Day Ten:
Relaxation - Deep Breathing
Enrichment - Placemat staining
The trick to deep breathing is to make sure you do it for at least 10 minutes to make it effective. I managed to do it for about 20 minutes after the kids went to bed, and it was a nice way to unwind and clear my head. I don't have a picture for staining the placemats, I accidentally deleted it from my camera! I bought 4 wooden placemats for $1.00 at Target a while back, and I decided they needed some protection from food that was dropped on them at mealtime. So I picked up a $4.00 can of stain and seal from Walmart and sealed the mats. They smell was awful and I ended up having to do it outside to avoid the fumes spreading through the house. But now it is easier to clean the placemats!
Day Eleven:
Relaxation - Deep conditioning
Enrichment - Handwashing and air-drying clothes
This was one relaxation that I had to pay for. The salon I go to only charges $10.00 for a deep conditioning, and I got my bangs trimmed while I was there. Melissa at The Hairitage did a wonderful job and I really enjoyed the deep conditioning. The heat from the dryer that infused the product into my hair was relaxing, and the salon was cozy, so that added to my peaceful state. She brushed my hair out (I love getting my hair brushed) gave me a quick bang trim, and sent me on my way. Thanks, Melissa! I haven't hand-washed clothes in a few years, so it was fun to fill the tub, add the soap, and slosh the clothes around. If you notice in the picture, I used a potato masher to stir and agitate the clothes. Don't knock it 'til you try it! I put some hempline on the fence to create a temporary line. Yes, it drooped some, but I can fix that with some screws, a pulley, and a cheap clothesline tightener. I think it would be a good investment, because knowing how to wash and dry clothes without the use of electronics is useful. Grace showed a lot of interest in it, so I am going to show her how to do it with her own clothes. Andrew thought the clothesline was "the most awesome thing in the backyard!!!". I love his enthusiasm! The best part of drying the clothes outside was the unexpected rainfall. I had to run outside, unpin all of the clothes, and run back in. It felt just like it does in the movies when the woman sees the rain falling and frantically runs outside to save the laundry from the lines. :-) The pictures are edited to make them look old-fashioned, because the whole feel of handwashing and hang-drying is old fashioned.
Relaxation - Girls Night Out
Enrichment - Mint sachets
Okay, the relaxation part hasn't happened yet, but I am really excited about it and I will update it tomorrow! The mint sachets were so much fun to make! The mint in the backyard had grown absolutely wild, so I pulled most of it out and hung it do dry. Then I crumbled it into a large bowl and made cotton sachet squares with the tops opened. I stuffed each one with dried mint leaves and sewed off the tops. I wrote "Sisters" on one side and "Friends" on the other. I won't ruin the surprise here, but it is part of something for Girls Night Out. Woohoo!
Have a relaxing and enriching weekend!
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